Elevator for sucker rods and the like



Sept. 2, 1930.- N. K. SMITH ELEVATOR FOR SUGKER RODS AND THE LIKE Filed May 28, 1928 Patented Sept. 2, 1930 UNITED. STATES PA T- FFE NELsoN K. SMITH, OF oX'NAnn, oALIEoENImnssIGNon TO BYRON 'JAcKsoN 00., or wEs'r BERKELEY, CALIFOR IA, a CORPORATION OF DELAWARE ELEVATOR FOR STICKER RODS AND THE LIKE Application filed May 2a, 1928.. Serial 110,281,057.

. This invention relates to elevators of the type employed in well drilling and pumping for elevating sucker rods or tubing and lowering the same into the well. The present disclosed construction is particularly well adapted for elevating and lowering sucker rods. l

An object of the invention is, safetyin handling thesucker rods, or other parts to be raised andloweredfsince the accidental dropping of the rods does considerable damage. 7 j

Another object is the facility with which the elevator may be engaged with,jand dis- 5 engaged from,.the rods. Since ruggedness .is one ofthe requisites of tools of this description, an important object is to provide a construction which will be of exceptional strength. v f 7 Other objects and advantages'will appear in the subjoined detailed description.

The accompanying drawings illustrate the invention. j

Fig. 1 is a plan'viewof an elevator constructed in accordance with the provisions of this invention, portions thereof being in section on theline indicated by 11, Fig. 2. Fig. 2isa vertical view, mainly in section, .on the irregular line indicated by 2'2, aoFigl.

v The body, of the elevator is indicated in general by the character 6 and comprises symmetrically arranged portions '7 constituting a forked, or cleft, member. Between the portions 7 is a sloti8 which terminates inwardly in a semicircular wall 9.

The sucker rod, or other member to be vator through the slot 8 and the coupling member at the upper end of the rod rests on the margin of the semi-circular beveled portion 9 of the slot 8. The beveled portion 9 1 covers more than 180 degrees of circular measurement, .so that, the coupling member of the rod will seat within it andt-hus tend to be retained. .In order that the rod can not slip out of the portion 9 of the slot, while Two latch members 10 are provided, one on each side of the slot 8. Thefulcrums of the latch members 10 are indicated at 11, and, in this instance, are in the nature of vertically fpositioned bolts which pass through holes 12 in the'body 6 and through d holes 1 3 in the latch membersglO. The latch members are positioned in transversely extending slots 14 of the body 6, said slots extending from the front end to the'rearend ofsaid body, and communicating with the slot 8. The body portions above and below the slots 1 1 are connected by a rear central web 15, which extends rearwardly from the slot portion 9, and side lugslG which terminate outwardly in cylindrical portions 17 forreceiving the eyes of a bail, not shown, or other device, whereby reversible suspension of the elevator isobtained. The upper and lowerportions of the body are also connected bylfron't webs 32 positioned along opposite sides of the slot 8.

, Each latch member 10 comprises a handle 18 that projects forwardly of the front end of the body 6; a finger 19 that projects laterally into the slot 8 when the latch member is in the closed position shown in Fig. 1;

and a rearwardly projecting tripping extenfsion 20, whichis positionedbetween the adjacent lug 16 and wall of the slot portion "9. The handle 18is on onesideof the ful- Also on said opposite side is a laterally-projecting boss 21 which constitutes a spring l seat for the inner. end of a coil spring 22. [The outer end of the coil spring 22 seats in supported by theelevator, enters the ele- "cal portions 17 ,1 thusmaking it possible to employ longer springs thanif said seats were positioned out ofalinernent with said cylindrical portions, without increase in widthfof the body. l i

' The latch members arecom'plementary to one another or, in other words, one left and the other right, and, when the handles 18- are forcedtoward each other, the fingers 19 are retractedfrom the slot 8. The re traction of the fingers 19 is necessaryto reloo move the elevator from the sucker rod that it engages.

In order that the elevator may be engaged with the sucker rod, without the necessity of the operator manipulating the handles 18, the front faces of the fingers 19 are beveled and extend aslant forwardly and outwardly, and said fingers 19 rearwardly of the fulcrums 11 are retracted or forced outwardly by forcibly engaging the front faces of said fingers with the sucker rod as said sucker rod enters the slot 8. After the rod has passed the fingers 19, the springs 22 operate to return the fingers 19 to the latching positions shown in Fig. 1.

An important feature of the invention is the provision of means whereby tripping of the latch members 10 may be effected from the rear end of the elevator, and these means comprise tripping levers 24, which are complementary in construction and, accordingly, it is only necessary to describe one of these, as follows:

Each tripping lever 24 comprises a handle 25 that projects rearwardly of the rear end of the body 6, and said lever is positioned in the slot 14.- that contains the latch member with which said tripping lever functions. Each tripping lever is fulcrumed at 26 in the body 6, the fulcrum. being in the nature of a bolt that passes through holes 27 in the body 6 and through a hole 28 in the tripping lever.

The handle 24 is on one side of the fulcrum 26 and substantially on the opposite side of said fulcrum the lever 25 is provided with an arm 29 having a path of movement that intersects the extension 20 of the corelated latch member 10. The arm 29 engages the inner face of the extension 20, thus entailing that when the handles 24 are moved toward each other the lever arms 29 move away from each other and push outwardly the extensions 20, thereby retracting the fingers 19 from the slot 8.

The construction and operation of the invention will be readily understood from the foregoing description, and, briefly stated, the operation is as follows:

Assuming, for example, that it is desired to engage the elevator with a sucker rod, said elevator will be presented to the sucker rod with the slot 8 turned toward said rod so as to cause the rod to enter said slot and retract the fingers 19.

To remove the elevator from the sucker rod engaged thereby, if the operator is positioned in front of the elevator, he will force the handles 18 toward each other to retract the fingers 19. If, however, the operator is positioned in the rear of the elevator, he will force the handles 25 toward each other to achieve the same result, namely, the retracting of the fingers 19.

As shown in the drawings, the body 6, preferably, is constituted of three sections, an intermediate section 30 and top and bottom sections 31. The sections 30, 31 are castings of iron or other suitable metal and the bolts 11, 26 detachably unite the sections. The advantage of this construction is that it enables plates with different sizes of portions 9 of the slot 8 to be used with the same body, thus to readily produce elevators for rods of different diameters. Theslot 1a is formed by an opening extending from top to bottom in the section 30 and the plates 81 that constitute the top and bottom walls of said openmg.

In some instances it may be that the purchaser of the elevator will desire that the latches be operated only from the front end, in which event the tripping levers 2st may be omitted or removed without the necessity of any other alterations being made in the elevator.

I claim:

1. An elevator for sucker rods and the like comprising a body provided with a slot, pivoted latch members on opposite sides of the slot provided with handles projecting from one end of said body and said latch members provided with fingers adapted to project into the slot, springs holding the latch members in. latching positions, and levers pivoted to the body and engaging with the latch members in opposition to the force of the springs and provided with handles projecting from the opposite end of the body.

2. An elevator for sucker rods and the like comprising a body provided with a slot to receive a sucker rod and with transversely extending slots communicating with the first mentioned slot, pivoted latch members in the last mentioned slots on opposite sides of the first mentioned slot, said latch members provided with handles projecting from one end of said body and said latch members provided with fingers adapted to project into the first mentioned slot, springs holding the latch members in the latching positions, and levers pivotally mounted in the second mentioned slots and engaging with the latch members in opposition to the force of the springs and provided with handles projectin g from the opposite end of the body.

3. An elevator for sucker rods and the like comprising a body provided with a slot, pivoted latch members on opposite sides of the slot each provided with a handle on one side of the pivot, the handles projecting from one end of the body and said latch members provided with fingers on the other sides of the pivots adapted to project into the slot, springs holding the latch members in the latching positions, and levers pivoted to the body and engaging with the latch members in opposition to the force of the springs and provided with handles projecting from the opposite end of the body.

4. An elevator for sucker rods and the like comprising a body provided with a slot, pivoted latch members on opposite sides of the slot provided with handles projecting from one end of said body and said latch members provided with fingers adapted to project into the slot, springs holding the latch members in latching position, and means projecting from the opposite end 01"- the body and engaging the latch members to retract said latch members against the force of the springs.

5. An elevator for sucker rods and the like comprising a body provided with a slot to receive a sucker rod and with transversely eX- tending slots communicating with the first mentioned slot, the body portions above and below the second mentioned slots being connected only by a rear central web and side lugs, pivoted latch members in the second mentioned slots on opposite sides of the first mentioned slot, said latch members provided with handles projecting from one end of said body, said latch members provided with-fingers adapted to project into the first mentioned slot, springs holding the latch members in the latching positions and levers pivotally mounted in the second mentioned slots and engaging with'the latch members in opposition to the force of the springs and pro vided with handles projecting from the opposite end of the body.

6. An elevator for sucker rods and the like comprising a body provided with a slot to receive a sucker rod and with transversely extending slots communicating with the first mentioned slot, the body portions above and below the second mentioned slots being connected only by a rear central web and side lugs terminating outwardly in cylindrical portions for the engaging of a bail, pivoted latch members in the second mentioned slots on opposite sides of the first mentioned slot, said latch members provided with handles projecting from one end of said body, said latch members provided with fingers adapted to project into the first mentioned slot, springs holding the latch members in the latching positions, and levers pivotally mounted in the second mentioned slots and engaging with the latch members in opposition to the force of the springs and provided with handles projecting from the opposite end of the body.

7. An elevator for sucker rods and the like comprising a body provided with a slot and including an intermediate section and top and bottom sections, latch members provided with fingers adapted to project into the slot,-and springs holding the latch members in latching positions, levers pivoted to the body and engaging with the latch members in opposition to the force of the springs and provided with handles projecting from one end of the body, the latch members provided with handles projecting from the opposite end of the body.

8. An elevator for sucker rods and the like comprising a body provided with a slot,

latch members pivotally mounted in the body 7 on opposite sides of the slot, springs yieldingly holding the-latch members toward each other, means projecting from the opposite sides of the body for reversibly connecting the body with a suspension device, the latch of May 1928.

NELSON K. SMITH. 

